Archive for September 2008
RP gets lowest score ever for anti-corruption efforts
By Jesus Llanto
Researcher, Newsbreak
September 23, 2008–The Philippines is perceived as more corrupt now than last year, a study by the international anti-corruption group Transparency International showed.
The 2008 Corruption Perception Index showed that the Philippines got a score of 2.3 in 2007—down by 0.2 points from 2.5 in 2007. This year’s score is the lowest for the country since 1995 when the first CPI was devised as a tool for a country’s resolve to fight corruption.
The corruption perception index measures the perception of the degree of corruption as seen by business people and analysts. This year, 180 countries are rated from 0 to 10. A grade of 10 means the country is perceived as very clean while a rating of 0 means the country is perceived as very corrupt.
The Philippines ranked 141st—along with Cameroon, Iran and Yemen—and was behind most of its ASEAN neighbors. Singapore, with a 9.2 rating, was in the 4th place while Malaysia got 5.1 to land on the 47th place. Thailand is in the 80th spot with a rating of 3.5 while Vietnam is in the 121st place with a score of 2.7 Indonesia, which ranked lower than the Philippines last year, was in 126th place with a rating of 2.6
In Southeast Asia, the Philippines fared better than Timor-Leste (145th with a grade of 2.2), Laos (151st with a rating of 2.0), Cambodia (166th with a score of 1.8) and Myanmar (178th with a score of 1.3)
Denmark, New Zealand and Sweden got the highest score of 9.3 while Singapore landed on the second spot with a rating of 9.2. Countries that received the lowest rating are Haiti (1.4), Iraq and Myanmar (1.3) and Somalia (1.0)
Click here to read the rest of the story.
Photo Credit: www.transparency.org
Balancing between fuel and food
By Jesus F. Llanto
Newsbreak, Researcher
September 23, 2008–In some areas in the country, farmers who have abandoned planting coconut and cassava are now cultivating these crops again because of increasing demand for biofuels.
Governor Rolando Yebes of Zamboanga del Norte said that farmers in his region are now going back to planting these crops because of the surging demand and the entry of companies interested in the production of biofuels.
“Before farmers cut their coconut trees and sold them for lumber. Now, they are planting coconuts for biofuels,” he told abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak adding that cassava, which has shown growth in previous years, is expected to increase further due to investments from biofuel companies like Basic Energy Corp., which is reportedly eyeing an ethanol plant in the region using cassava as feedstock.
Constancio Alama, assistant regional director for agriculture of Region IX, said that despite the promise of biofuels, there is a need to ensure that local government units should prioritize the production of food over biofuels. “Bakit uunahin ang sasakyan kung may nagugutom? (Why should we prioritize vehicles when people are hungry?)”
Zamboanga del Norte is not alone. In many parts of the world, with the unprecedented rise in oil price, a tug of war is taking place over using land for fuel or food.
The passage in the Philippines of the Biofuels Act in January 2007 generated a lot of interest about this renewable source of energy. The law aims to break the Philippine’s dependence on imported fuel particularly oil. Two years after the enactment of this law, liquid fuels for vehicles and engine are required to contain at least five percent of biofuel.
Click here to read the rest of the story.
Photo Source: www.sarangani.gov.ph
RP policies make it ‘less vulnerable’ to US financial crisis: ADB economists
By Jesus Llanto, Newsbreak
Sept. 16,2008–The Philippines is not immune to the effects of the financial turmoil in the United States but it is in a better position to respond to the impacts, an economist from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said today during the release of the bank’s growth forecast for the region.
“The Philippine cannot be insulated…but there have been macroeconomic policies that have make it less vulnerable and in better position to respond to the negative impacts of these events,” said Thomas Crouch, ADB’s deputy director general for Southeast Asia, during the release of update of the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) Tuesday.
“The cost of insulating is very high,” said Neeraj Jain, ADB’s country director for the Philippines. “It will be bad for the Philippines to cut itself from the global market.”
Jain said fiscal space created by policies implemented during the past two to three years will curtail or limit the impact of these events.
The ADB economists gave their comments as the financial crisis in the US spread following the events on Wall Street, where Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy protection and rival Merrill Lynch agreed to be sold to Bank of America for $50 billion.
Slower economic growth
The ADB has trimmed down its economic growth forecasts and raised inflation projections for the Philippines. The Manila-based multilateral bank forecasts a 4.5 percent and 4.7 percent economic growth in 2008 and 2009, respectively. The figures are below the 6.0% and 6.2% projected in April. With a report from Reuters.
RP second to last among ASEAN in ease of doing business
By Jesus F. Llanto
Researcher, Newsbreak
Wednesday, September 10, 2008–The Philippines’ ranking in ease of doing business has declined: it has fallen by seven notches, a recent study by the World Bank and the International Finance Corp showed.
The Philippines ranked 140th out of 181 economies in the Doing Business 2009 report, which compares the regulations that enhance or constrain business activity. This year’s ranking was a decline from last year, when the country ranked 133rd out of 178 economies.
Last year’s ranking, however, was adjusted to 136th place because of the inclusion of three new countries—Qatar, Bahrain and the Bahamas.
The Philippines was behind most of its Asian neighbors. Singapore, for the third consecutive year, topped the ranking. Thailand and Malaysia landed on the 13th and 14th spot, respectively, while Brunei ranked 88th. Vietnam was on the 92nd spot while Indonesia and Cambodia ranked 129th and 135th, respectively.
The Philippines performed better than Asian neighbors Laos (165th) and East Timor (170th).
The Doing Business 2009 is the sixth in a series of reports that rank economies based on regulations affecting 10 stages of the life of a business: staring a business, dealing with construction permits, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business.
